AT&T will pay a $950,000 fine related to 911 call center outages in 2023. The carrier will pay the fine for failing to deliver 911 calls and for not notifying call centers in a timely manner, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said this week. The 2023 service outage affected 911 call centers in Illinois, Kansas, Texas, and Wisconsin in August 2023.
The outage occurred when AT&T was testing its 911 network. A technician accidentally disabled a portion of that network, and AT&T’s system did not properly adjust to compensate for the downed portion of the network. During the outage, which lasted for 1 hour and 14 minutes, there were more than 400 failed 911 calls.
“Service providers have an obligation to transmit 911 calls and notify 911 call centers of outages
in a timely manner,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Our rules are designed to protect
the public and ensure that public safety officials can inform consumers of alternate ways to reach
emergency services in the event of an outage.”
As part of the settlement, AT&T will implement a three-year compliance plan designed to ensure future compliance with the FCC’s 911 and outage notification rules.
Service providers are required to immediately notify call centers about an outage so the public can be informed about alternative methods of getting emergency assistance.
